Picture Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Day by day Beast/Getty
When Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) beat his main challenger Tuesday, he delivered a speech to household and pals predicting a straightforward repeat victory in November that might enable him to stay with “Republicans with a will to battle and a spine.” There was, predictably, no point out of the underage intercourse trafficking investigation that might someday be catastrophic to his political profession.
That federal probe that generated nationwide consideration for just a few weeks final yr has since quieted down. Nevertheless it’s not over.
Eight individuals with direct information of the probe confirmed to The Day by day Beast that the case continues to be unfolding—albeit at a methodical tempo—as federal prosecutors work their manner throughout quite a few spokes of doable criminality. Whereas every zone has its personal units of witnesses, topics, and targets, all of it spirals out from one man: a crooked native tax official and Gaetz’s former “wingman,” Joel Greenberg.
Lyle Mazin, a legal protection legal professional who represents a witness within the case, advised The Day by day Beast that the quiet shouldn't be misconstrued as reluctance on the a part of Roger Handberg, a federal prosecutor who led the native group conducting the investigation and now leads the Florida Center District U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace.
“He’s methodical. He doesn’t let something go,” Mazin mentioned. “In case you’re going after a monster, you need to get it proper—particularly when you've a bunch of Trump supporters who’ll come after you.”
Nobody who spoke to The Day by day Beast believes that the Gaetz probe was closed, and protection attorneys for witnesses and topics who've just lately loved a quiet season mentioned they anticipate to listen to from prosecutors once more. Some have struck agreements for advance discover of charging choices.
A Gaetz spokeswoman didn't return a request for remark. Gaetz flatly denies all allegations of wrongdoing.
A lawyer for one particular person already charged within the case advised The Day by day Beast that, in his expertise, the prosecutors have “all the time been tight on the timeline.”
“They solely strike when the case is tightly constructed, sadly,” this lawyer mentioned.
That day, if it comes, is probably going nonetheless months off. Two attorneys mentioned prosecutors will take excessive steps to keep away from the looks of interfering with the midterms, and anticipated any bulletins involving Gaetz would probably come a number of weeks after the November election.
One weird flip within the Gaetz saga ended Monday after a federal decide handed down a five-year jail sentence to Stephen M. Alford, a Florida man who tried to defraud the Gaetz household. Alford in some way caught wind of the intercourse trafficking probe and promised Gaetz a presidential pardon, which Alford knew he couldn't ship, if the household would shell out $25 million to allegedly spring a U.S. hostage held in Iran.
The investigation into Gaetz himself is just one merchandise in an increasing queue. The probe of Greenberg alone has uncovered so many layers of public corruption in Central Florida that investigators have needed to peel them aside one after the other: illicit actual property offers; embezzlement of federal COVID-19 paycheck help; a neighborhood Republican scheme to run “ghost” candidates; a public corruption plot involving quite a few highly effective state figures; and finally the intercourse trafficking investigation involving the congressman himself.
In late 2020, whereas Greenberg was angling for a presidential pardon, he wrote a confession letter—obtained solely by The Day by day Beast—detailing the way in which Gaetz would use him as a intermediary to pay for intercourse with younger girls and no less than one underage lady. Greenberg’s private Venmo funds—additionally obtained solely by The Day by day Beast—mirrored that association. In a single instance, Gaetz paid his buddy $900, writing in a single memo subject, “hit up ___,” utilizing a nickname for the previously underage lady, who by then had simply turned 18.
Greenberg was charged with trafficking that teen in August 2020. The Day by day Beast confirmed that the FBI opened its investigation into Gaetz the identical month.
After confessing to the trafficking a minor cost final Might, Greenberg struck a plea take care of federal prosecutors in Orlando. Since then, investigators have been utilizing the data he shared to focus on his accomplices one by one.
In Might, the area’s state legal professional criminally charged Seminole County Republican Social gathering chair Ben Paris and two others for hatching a scheme to run a non-existent “ghost” candidate. The operation drew votes away from Democratic candidate Patricia Sigman and propelled Republican candidate and Gaetz ally Jason Brodeur into the Florida state senate. (The Gaetz marketing campaign donated to Brodeur months after the victory.) On Tuesday, state prosecutors filed paperwork in courtroom indicating that Greenberg was going to be a witness within the trial, which begins Monday.)
In January, Handberg’s group of native federal prosecutors secured a responsible plea from a tag-along to the alleged Gaetz-Greenberg underage intercourse trafficking: a former radio shock jock and Greenberg affiliate named “Large Joe” Ellicott. Ellicott revealed intimate information of the sexual crimes in textual content messages solely obtained by The Day by day Beast. He was additionally allegedly current at a pivotal second when Greenberg phoned the congressman to let him know that one of many teenagers they’d allegedly paid for intercourse was underage, The Day by day Beast beforehand reported.
Weeks earlier than that, Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend testified earlier than the grand jury, reportedly underneath an immunity deal. The ex-girlfriend, thought of a witness to doable obstruction prices towards Gaetz, reportedly feared that the teenager on the middle of the probe had taped her in conversations with Gaetz and different girls in Dec. 2020—across the time federal brokers seized each her cellphone and the congressman’s.
In Nov. 2021, two months earlier than Gaetz’s ex testified, Handberg’s group indicted two Greenberg associates for fleecing an investor out of $12 million in an actual property fraud scheme, one more instance of the.many corruption circumstances bogging down investigators.
Two high-ranking prosecutors on the Division of Justice’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.—Todd Gee and Lauren Britsch—have led the Gaetz portion of the investigation, based on sources who've interacted with them. In the meantime, federal prosecutors in Orlando—Roger Handberg, Jennifer Harrington, and Amanda Daniels—proceed to research native parts of overlapping crime rings.
For some concerned within the case as witnesses or potential targets of the bigger intercourse trafficking investigation, it’s been months since they’ve heard from prosecutors. A Gaetz-Greenberg affiliate who was allegedly concerned in drug-fueled intercourse events has not heard from the federal grand jury in almost a yr, based on an individual aware of his scenario. A key witness who knew concerning the underage intercourse trafficking and testified earlier than that grand jury has been at nighttime for months, based on one other particular person aware of her scenario.
“That is essentially the most quiet this complete deal has been,” mentioned one witness who first alerted the Secret Service to potential legal habits by the congressman.
The calm is beginning to frustrate greater than a dozen witnesses and attorneys who characterize individuals at odds with Gaetz or Greenberg, though most mentioned they continue to be hopeful.
“We all know for a indisputable fact that there are dozens of different actors who had been concerned in drug-fueled intercourse events with underage ladies and different legal monetary schemes. If on the finish of the day solely two or three individuals are held to account by the feds, that might be an actual miscarriage of justice and transparency,” mentioned David Bear, an Orlando legal professional who has suggested a number of individuals who would take into account themselves victims of Greenberg’s abuse of energy whereas in workplace.
In one other sign of the investigation’s scope and progress, three sources advised The Day by day Beast that prosecutors turned their consideration to Tallahassee this spring. In response to the sources, this beforehand unreported motion concerned interviews with doable witnesses and topics in connection to a different spoke of the Gaetz case—an alleged public corruption scheme to affect marijuana coverage, mentioned to contain state officers.
Gaetz can be reportedly a part of that inquiry. There, federal prosecutors with the DOJ’s public integrity unit are reportedly analyzing whether or not a gaggle of males supplied presents together with marijuana and prostitutes throughout a 2018 journey to the Bahamas in alternate for political favors.
General, the restricted quantity of public prosecutorial motion has—after an explosive two months of headlines final yr—left many exterior observers curious, confused, and skeptical.
Some, like Mark Lombardo, are irritated. The Vietnam veteran and FedEx government misplaced towards Gaetz within the Republican main on Tuesday. He advised The Day by day Beast that the intercourse trafficking investigation towards the congressman “performed an element” in his choice to file marketing campaign paperwork in June, and believes an indictment would have saved him 1,000,000 dollars in marketing campaign spending.
“In case you’re asking me whether or not I’m annoyed, after all I'm,” Lombardo mentioned. “I believed he’d be lengthy gone… the wheels of justice don’t grind very quick.”